A very English scandal

[Cistersaredoingitforthemselves]

Looking forward to seeing this

I have read the book and it was excellent.

I remember this happening and it being one of the earliest political scandals I was aware of ( and actually understood) - Watergate was my first but I was only small and didn't understand

Peter Bessell - the owner of a face like a badly tessellated pavement

Probably the best caption of a photo ever

That is amazing Clawdy - what a coincidence !
My Dad (now passed away sadly) was in several different camps and I'm not sure which one he was in when he knew Roy Dotrice - I know at one point he was in a camp in Sagan (stalag Luft III, I believe) but he was shot down in 1941 and moved to Sagan later, and then moved later again.

(Apologies for hijack everyone!)

Think DH's dad was in a camp in Thorn, Poland at the end, but like your dad he was in more than one camp . They put on plays and entertainments, some written by DH's dad, and I bet Roy D was in them. Yes, we've hijacked the thread, sorry!

I just finished watching and I thought it was great, the constant references to Norman's national insurance card really made me laugh. Well paced, great acting, funny, interesting, I just wish it wasn't over.

Anyone know how I can watch the Panorama programme? It's not on more4.

I watched half of the Tom Mangold panorama programme on BBC4 this afternoon (it kept buffering so I abandoned it for a bit)

The real Norman is very sweet in it & made me think Ben Whishaw caught him perfectly. I know he went to see him before they started filming, & BW was quite upset to hear just how horrible it was for gay men at the time.

faketan it’s BBC4, not Ch 4

Was on at 10pm yesterday

thank you, found it.

excellent review of part 3 in the Guardian, & great comments too

Wow, loved this so much! Obviously a part of history that fascinates RT Davies and I think it was important that a gay man wrote it. Liked how Thorpe represented the 'old style' furtive, dangerous, secret gayness and Scott in many ways was ahead of his time, looking to the future, proudly reclaiming his sexuality. And the hint that if it had happened these days maybe it would have been a bit more of a relationship - v. interesting.

I think that Carman was lying when he confessed to Thorpe about also having gay hookups - I think he was trying to get him to confess.

Carman was an interesting character in his own right. I googled him last night as well - worth a look!

Carman’s first appearance though was being released from an overnight police cell! What was that about?

Carman was involved in a drink drive incident. In fact he got the Thorpe trial moved so that his case came after and would help him if he won.

It seemed very amicable though, & as if he was a familiar figure!

Yes my sense is that Carmen was regularly banged up for drunk and disorderly after benders.

Just got the final episode to watch so have only read first few comments.
Both Ben Wishaw and Hugh Grant are fantastic.
What a cast!

And thanks for the info about Bessell, that man who married a divorced American and had to pass his Job to his brother.

I thought this was brilliant. I wasn't aware of the scandal so it was all new to me and couldn't quite understand the issue over the National Insurance card?

Also, there was a scene where the police had tracked down the "assassin" and went to arrest him. So why wasn't he standing trial with the others?

Wasn't he already serving time for shooting the dog?

Jane Banks in Mary Poppins was MD’s sister Karen.

Did everyone in the world except me already know this? Because I had no idea despite having watched Mary Poppins more times than I'm willing to confess to.

Is the book worth reading?

Perfect, perfect acting from everyone, down to the little baby in ep. 1 who rolled his little eyes and looked away when NS was saying "look at me" in the hut!

HG brings a sense of pathos and humanity to JT whose portrayal could so easily go the caricature way, but didn't. Just watched all 3 episodes last night, can't fault it.

I wonder what happened to Norman’s little boy? They didn’t mention him after his wife left.

Re Norman Scott, World of interiors did a feature on his lovely Dartmoor cottage a couple of years ago. It was gifted to him/ leant for life by someone “ who felt he’d been badly treated by the establishment “. One piece of good luck at least in a difficult life.

whataboutbob - some people are lovely and do nice things for people!

he was badly let down, but it does still all go on and the 'old boy network' will never change - they will still find ways of covering things up and covering each others backs I think, just different ways of going about it.

Probably alone in this but I felt it was too sympathetic to NS and didn't really show the effect of his mental health problems on his behaviour.

He fell out with a number of employers - one of the reasons he lost his first NI card - and after the end of the affair he tried to sabotage Thorpe's career and relationships by reporting to the Police and contacting Thorpe's wife and Mother. He apparently also told a friend that he wanted to shoot Thorpe and then commit suicide.

Obviously JT's eventual 'solution' was horrific but I can understand the desperation he must have felt at being targeted in that way.

Casting Ben Wishaw, who has a naturally sympathetic demeanour, meant that it was all very much softened and Paddingtonised.